Batman Rebirth and Superman Rebirth review

I’m reviewing both of these together for several reasons. One, they both act as teasers of sorts for the characters’ respective upcoming comics. Two, I don’t feel like I have enough to say about either of them to write a full review. With that out of the way, let’s talk about both Batman Rebirth and Superman Rebirth.

Batman Rebirth, written by Scott Snyder and Tom King, takes place over the course of four seasons. The villain is an interesting one – a man who ages with the seasons and is reborn every spring. Also every spring, he plants a bunch of spores that will kill people if they’re not destroyed first. It’s a fun one-shot that teases a new ally that Batman is training, who will be something new instead of a new Robin. In the finale, Batman also pushes himself hard to find the spores in a fairly intense scene. This comic seems to follow Scott Snyder’s New 52 Batman run, but it’s also very easy to follow for new readers. The art by Mikel Janin and colouring by June Chung is great. The full page spread of the Bat Cave is very impressive with its scope and detail, characters are clearly sweating when it’s hot out and there’s great use of shadows in the darker scenes.

Superman Rebirth, written by Peter J Tomasi and Patrick Gleason, isn’t a complete story on its own so much as it’s equally a goodbye issue to New 52 Superman and an introduction of sorts to the Rebirth Superman. I know that New 52 Superman died (I flipped through that issue), but apart from that, I’m not sure what’s going on with Superman in Rebirth. The interactions between Superman and Lana Lang are well-written and perfectly exemplify how much they mean to each other. The art by Doug Mahnke and colouring by Wil Quintana is great. The flashback fight between Superman and Doomsday is full of debris flying all over the place, and the statues in the Fortress of Solitude are nice.

I’m not entirely sure which Batman and Superman titles I’ll be reading in Rebirth yet, but I’ll most likely only read one from each. Although Superman Rebirth feels more like a teaser, there’s enough drama, action and setup for it to be worth the $3 price tag for Superman fans. Batman Rebirth is a complete story that also acts as a teaser, making it the better of the two. Even so, I’d recommend both of these to their respective fans.

Batman Rebirth: 8.5/10

Superman Rebirth: 8/10